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Truth Be Told

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Monday, March 12, 2012

An Apology, an Appropriations Bill, and a Conversation That Never Happened

My name is Mark Charles.
I am not an elected official, I do not lead an organization, nor do I
work solely for a specific group or company. I am merely the son of an American
womanof Dutch heritage and a Navajo man, who is
living on the Navajo Reservation and trying to understand the complexities of
our country’s history regarding race, culture and faith so that I can help
forge a path of healing and reconciliation for our people.

What do Native America, the 2010 Department of Defense
Appropriations Bill, and reconciliation have to do with each other? And why am I inviting you to join me in
reading this document publically?

I am doing so because of what is found on pages 45 and
46. These pages contain sub-section 8113
titled "Apology to Native Peoples of the United States."

I was shocked, confused, embarrassed and ashamed when I
learned, 2 years after the fact, that the US government had issued an apology
to its Native American citizens, but did very
little to publicize it, and even seemed intent on burying it in a 67-page
Defense Department appropriations bill.
The White House issued a press release regarding the signing of this
bill but it made no mention of the enclosed apology. As far as I can find, sub-sections 8113 was
not read publically until six months later,
in May of 2010, when Senator Sam Brownback (KS) read it in a small ceremony
with only a handful of Native American leaders present. Of the few articles I could find about this
apology, many expressed the same sentiment as one published in Indian Country
Today on December 3, 2011, which was titled, "A Tree Fell in the Forest:
The U.S. Apologized to Native Americans and No One Heard a Sound."

I was shocked. Was
this how more than 500 years of injustice, disenfranchisement, boarding
schools, broken treaties, stolen lands, war and for some tribes, genocide, was
supposed to end, with a silent apology?

I was confused. What
went on behind the scenes? What kinds of
deals were made? Who was involved in the
negotiations? Did anyone really think
that a compromise which resulted in our government issuing an apology, but not speaking about it would solve anything? And what is the next step supposed to be?

I was embarrassed. My
mother is the descendant of immigrants from the Netherlands. I share in the heritage of the immigrants to
this land. I know my ancestors were
wrong for the way they treated their indigenous hosts, and I have devoted much
of my life to restoring those relationships.
And this apology, slipped into the middle of a DOD appropriations bill
and then hardly mentioned again was an embarrassment to any serious
reconciliation efforts.

I was ashamed. For
generations, my father’s people, the Navajo, and other Native American tribes have
been treated like children and told by the government that we cannot
participate fully as citizens of this country.
We did not completely receive the right to vote until 1948. We were told that it was better for our
children to be raised by the government, in boarding schools, than it was to be
raised at home within our Native communities.
Our tribal leaders are not allowed to have full, sovereign relationships
with the US government and instead have been regulated to dealing with the
Bureau of Indian Affairs where we can be governed without being
represented. And now we have even been
apologized to without actually being spoken to.

This (non)apology is evidence that when it comes to the
treatment of the indigenous hosts of this land by the government of the United
States, there is still no respect, no dignity, no relationship, and therefore,
no reconciliation.

Reconciliation is never easy, which is why it doesn't happen
very often. Reconciliation is not an
event encapsulated in a moment of time.
It has a definite starting point, but no definitive ending. Reconciliation begins with a conversation and
ends with a relationship restored.

So I have decided to do whatever I can to kick-start this conversation
that was attempted by our elected officials.
I appreciate their efforts, and I will do my best to pick up the ball
where I feel it has been dropped.

Ultimately, this conversation is about us: you and me, the
citizens of this country, the inhabitants of this land. It is about our histories, individually and shared. It is about the children of the indigenous
hosts of this land who have been here for centuries, even eons, seeking to live
in harmony with each other and creation.
It is about the ancestors of the first Europeans who immigrated here, seeking
to form a "more perfect union."
It is about the descendants of slaves who were stolen from their lands in
Africa and brought here where they were literally forced, against their will,
to build this country. And it is about
the generations of immigrants, both documented and un-documented, who have made
the pilgrimage here, from all corners of the earth, in search of a better life.

Therefore, I have reserved the space in front of the US Capitol,
for December 19, 2012, to publically read H.R. 3326, and its enclosed apology. If you are Native American, I invite you to
stand and read the 45 pages preceding this apology with me. The weather will probably be cold, the wind
will most likely be biting, and the reading will definitely be boring. But through it, I hope to highlight the painful
yet invisible history that our communities have had with the government and the
citizens of the United States of America.

If you are an immigrant or the descendant of immigrants to
this country, I also invite you to join me.
I hope to have the apology portion of this bill translated into as many
Native American languages as possible so that it can be read, by our guests, directly
to the indigenous hosts of this land. You
will probably mispronounce many of the words and even feel a little foolish
attempting to read such important sentiments in front of so many people in a
completely foreign language. But
through this I hope to remind our country, our leaders and even the world, that
when you sincerely apologize, this is what you do. You bend over backwards to communicate as
clearly and as humbly as possible to your intended audience.

It is my hope, that if we do this, we can move past the
first and painful step of acknowledging the past and re-starting the conversation
so that we can move to the next step of actually beginning to reconcile our
relationships.

Until December, I intend to travel, speak, and write as much
as possible in order to publicize this event and personally invite as many of
our citizens, indigenous peoples, government officials, and tribal leaders as I
can. And I am starting with this
article.

And looking intently Yeshua said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with Elohim all is possible.” Then Kepha answering, said to Him, “See, we have left all and followed You. What then shall we have?” And Yeshua said to them, “Truly I say to you, when the Son of Adam sits on the throne of His esteem, you who have followed Me in the rebirth, shall also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Yisra’El. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. “But many who are first shall be last, and the last first". -Matthew 19:26-30

LUKE 12: 2 - 32 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. 3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.IN TIME, ALL THINGS WILL BE REVEALED.NOW IS THE TIME FOR THIS APOLOGY TO BE REVEALED.IF WE CAN'T BE THERE IN PERSON, WE WILL BE THERE IN PRAYER AND IN SPIRIT.

WOW...Would have been there if I would have known...Have been praying and very active in RECONCILIATION work on these issues for many years, and we are NOT FINISHED yet!!!!!!!!The TRUTH will come out and set the captives free, every bible verse shared here will come to pass, YEHOVAH has said it and it WILL!!!HE IS raising up HIS standard of TRUTH that WILL EXPOSE all the lies of the past so that we can experience HIS Love and forgiveness and the HEALING of THIS TURTLE ISLAND LAND, where every tribe and nation NOW live...BLESS you and SHALOM, Perry Gerhart******** Tabernacle of David, Ministries, tDTWteam worship band, Psalm Drummers, Shofar and silver trumpets blowers, Spiritual Mapper........

Hi Mark, I liked your example with the old House a lot! I think, it makes everybody understanding it. I am not an American,I am from Austria and honestly I didnt understand every part but with what I understood you did a good job. I think, it let some people think about it more! Thanks :)

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The Doctrine of Discovery- A Buried Apology and an Empty Chair
Picture a chair, an empty chair. There are dozens, even hundreds, of them sitting on the stage behind the podium. At the microphone is a Native American elder. Hurting, trembling, shaking, but standing. Full of resolve. Sharing a story of the horrors of the abuse, neglect and trauma, experienced as a young child at an Indian boarding school. In front of this elder are hundreds, even thousands, of people. Native Americans, with their heads bowed in grief, sorrow, even panic, as their own memories of similar stories are triggered.
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